Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Harry Potter story or characters. I do, however, reserve the rights for any characters I develop and the plot of this story.
AN: I know a lot of people felt the last chapter was "crackish" I'll admit that that was intentional. Harry and I needed to get bit of a party out of our system before the fecal excrement hit the fan. This Chapter will return to our normal level of humor. It will also feature more Veelas, Veela!Angst, and less training.
Harry Potter and the Veela Life Debts
By Jojobevco
Chapter 20
The Arriving Storm and Stage Four Begins
October 29, 1995
8:05 AM
Harry's Room
The Headquarters of the Joint Magical Counterterrorism Task Force
12 Grimmauld Place
London, United Kingdom
"Hmm, bit lower, right there…Ooohh, yes, that's it."
Harry was currently enjoying the rather tender ministrations of one of his girls. As he comfortably lay on the bed, Fleur was straddling him expertly moving and rotating….her hands…while giving him a back massage.
The fact that they were now, according to the expert analysts and planners, in "late stage three" meant that everyone was trying to cram every bit of knowledge and training possible into Harry before the "merde hit the fan." This was completely wrecking three aspects of Harry's life. His sleep schedule, his "girl time" and his physical stress level.
The morning massages he's been having for the past two weeks solved two (and, if he was lucky, all three of the problems).
Harry woke at 5:45 and did physical training and hand-to-hand combat for two hours before showering, getting a massage and then appearing at the daily briefing down in the conference room in, he looked at his watch, damn, 25 minutes.
If he was lucky he could occasionally catch a bit of a nap, which his girls didn't mind at all, they were happy if he did.
Harry must have dozed off a bit, because the next thing he could remember was Tonks knocking on the door before entering.
"Hey, Harry, meeting's in ten."
"Thanks, Tonks."
Tonks clearly didn't hear him, because she was staring at him
"Um, Tonks?"
Tonks looked up from his very nicely shaped bum, "Hm?"
"I got the message, thanks."
"Oh, right, um, okay," Tonks left in a daze.
Harry was still lying down as Fleur grabbed a towel to wipe off the extra massage oil.
"Gabrielle?"
Gabrielle looked up from where she was finishing with his thighs, "Yes?"
"Are you sure you're okay about us not having time to, you know?"
"Shag?"
"Yes."
"I'm fine, Harry, we'll have time for all that once Voldemort gets his act together." Gabrielle honestly didn't mind, she served at Harry's pleasure, not the other way around. Besides, it's not like she was about to explode from her horniness again.
As Harry started getting dressed, Fleur and Gabrielle went into the adjoining office to get their notes for the briefing off Harry's desk. It was a very cluttered desk. While Gabrielle was pulling a few bound copies of older reports off the bookshelf, Fleur was flipping over papers trying to find their notes on the packet that had been given to them last night, "Where the heck, oh, here they are!" Fleur then noticed a book that had been carefully placed off to one side of the desk. She looked at the cover and her eyes widened.
Bound Pleasure for Wizardry and Witchcraft
"What the…Gabrielle, do you see this?"
Gabrielle turned around from where she was skimming Soviet-Magical Relations 1980-1990, "Oh yes, I put that there last week hoping that Harry would get around to reading it. It's a rather good read actually, diagrams are helpful too." As Gabrielle watched her sister, she noted a hint of relief, before Fleur got a humorous expression.
"You do realize that he already completely dominates us and drives our will, right?"
"Technically he does, I'd just wish he'd be a bit more— direct about it sometimes."
Fleur subconsciously put the book back on the desk, "I'd wish you'd just talk about it. I don't want him to get any wrong ideas about it."
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that, there's no way Harry would confuse you and me in the bedroom. I'm a lot more adventurous and welcoming then you are. You and he haven't even done it yet!"
"And you've been shagging like rabbits since you got to France!"
Gabrielle was about to reply when the door swung open, "Girls, meeting, now."
Fleur and Gabrielle glared for a brief moment, grabbed the files and followed Harry downstairs to the conference room.
They entered to find Tonks, Smith, Moody, and a variety of people they only knew in passing from the Muggle government sitting across from the screen which contained Snape, Dumbledore, Malfoy and Hermione. Another screen next to it contained Jean-Pierre, Lafleur, and Sirius.
The two ladies and Harry took their seats as Dumbledore was calling the meeting to order. They picked up the briefing packets in front of them and broke the seal on them.
"Let's begin with the latest counter-assault plan on the target area. Please turn to Diagram 1. Agent Smith, Major Tonks, your report please."
Smith and Tonks stood and gestured to a larger diagram in the room behind the table, so everyone could see.
A Short Time Later, After the Plan was Discussed.
"Moving on, the numbers situation has started to become a serious concern. Auror Moody, your report please?"
Moody stood and looked at everyone, "Please turn to Diagram 2. As you can see by the chart, our numbers are not good. There are currently 100 Aurors on staff at the ministry and 250 Magical Law Enforcement Officers and Hit-Wizards. This is the bare minimum needed to maintain order during peacetime. Our current projections are that about three-quarters of them are Death Eaters, on Riddle's payroll, sympathetic to his views, or would hate us for getting rid of an illegal government, so that leaves us with 25 Aurors and about 65 MLE officers, or not even enough to secure the Ministry. The French have given us 300 Aurors and Auxiliary members. If we want to win, we'll need more to turn the tide."
Dumbledore nodded, "Fleur and Gabrielle, I believe you have been looking into this?"
Gabrielle looked to Fleur who was supposed to start, however she didn't seem to be paying attention. Gabrielle lightly whacked her arm.
"What? Oh, sorry. We've been looking into requesting aid from more countries. France can't do much more without compromising our own security. Ideally, the two we want on our side are the United States and the Russian Magical Government. Getting the United States to assist is not an issue. Both the Magical and Muggle sides of their government have been supportive of us in the ICW and in direct negotiations at the highest levels. They have promised logistical and tactical support on both sides of the fence. However, they will not act until the Ministry is dealt with."
Gabrielle took over, "The problem is the Russians. While tensions between the Magical and Muggle governments have softened since the Cold War, there are still major ideological issues that have to be worked through."
Harry was curious, "Like?"
"The magical government is at least two generations behind the muggle one."
"So, the population is older?"
"No, generations as in incarnations. The magical government is not the current Russian government. The Magical Government has been stable since 1917."
"So they're Soviets?"
Gabrielle rolled her eyes, "No, that's the problem, the current Muggle Russian Federation came out of the Soviet Union, which came out of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, which came out of the Russian Provisional Republic, which came out of the Russian Empire.
"The magical government took a different route. In their version of the 1917 October Revolution, the Bolsheviks lost. Their revolution had already taken place. When the Tsar was overthrown, the Pureblood contingent was also overthrown, leaving a group of moderates from all blood classes in charge."
"Okay, so wouldn't the fact that the communists are out of power make things easier."
"They do, but the muggle leaders, especially Stalin, persecuted and killed many witches and wizards, from the purest of blood, to the youngest of muggleborn. Amazingly, there was no interior persecution of muggleborns for 'bringing this on them.'"
"Why not?"
Gabrielle shrugged, "I don't know, maybe they were too busy running from Stalin, Nazis and the KGB?"
Dumbledore nodded, "If we want assistance from the Russians we need to get them to agree with one another. I propose we table it until Stage Five."
Harry raised his hand, "Um, stupid question, but what's Stage Five?"
Albus Dumbledore smirked. Not just any smirk, but the, "I'm Sirius Black and I'm about to reign hell down on Hogwarts," smirk. Sirius, Jean-Pierre, and Agent Smith all echoed his smirk.
"That is not for you to know, Harry, not yet, but soon."
Harry nodded, if Albus, Sirius, Jean-Pierre and Smith were keeping something from him, they must have a good reason.
"Good, now then, meeting adjourned."
Everyone left the room, except Fleur, who was so wrapped in her thoughts that she had barely paid attention. What Gabrielle said this morning hit her hard. It was true, compared to what Harry had done for her, she hadn't done nearly enough for Harry. What Gabrielle said had pulled an issue she had actively avoided to the forefront. While Harry, on an intellectual level wanted their relationship to proceed at her pace, on a baser level, the bond had indicated that he did want her. This left the bond, and her, very confused.
Fleur still wasn't ready though. While she had become comfortable around Harry, she always had a little feeling of discomfort and worry. As she physically got closer to him, this feeling gets worse and worse, until her mind goes blank and she just lets the bond take over.
Except for one time. The night of his birthday party, when he kissed her on the balcony, he pushed that feeling out, it was so wonderful, so amazing. But since then, something was missing. She'd have to think on it some more.
October 31, 1995
5:00 PM
Harry's Office
The Headquarters of the Joint Magical Counterterrorism Task Force
12 Grimmauld Place
London, United Kingdom
Harry was sitting in a recliner, reading this rather interesting book that Gabrielle had left him. He knew it was Gabrielle because Fleur would never leave him a book about…that.
He was just finishing Chapter 6 "Advanced Techniques for the Bedroom" when he was pulled out of his office and dropped into an observation room, in his mind. He knew what this meant; it meant that Voldemort was sending him a message.
The point of view was walking along the cool, dark corridor to the Department of Mysteries. The point of view was moving faster and faster to reach it's destination. It walked through the Black Door that swung open before it, then through the room of many doors before walking through two more doors into the Hall of Prophecy. The point of view began moving to Shelf 97 where a shape was on the floor like a wounded animal.
The point of view spoke in the voice of Voldemort, "Take it for me… Lift it down, now… I cannot touch it… but you can."
The shape shifted, before the point of view raised a wand and cast a Crucio. The shape, now a man, let out a scream of pain.
The point of view started laughing, "Lord Voldemort is waiting."
Slowly, the man started to rise, revealing it to be Sirius Black, "You'll have to kill me."
"Undoubtedly, I will in the end. But you will fetch it for me first, Black. Do you think you have felt pain thus far? Think again, we have ours ahead of us and no one will hear you scream."
Harry found himself back in his bedroom and snapped the book closed before running to Communications. The Auror on duty stood as he entered.
"Monsieur Potter?"
"Get me Paris immediately and find Colonel Black!"
"Right away, Monsieur."
Harry paced anxiously for the few seconds while waiting for the connection to be made, before Sirius's office appeared on the mirror.
"What's up, pup?"
"You're not being tortured by Voldemort now, are you?"
"No, I'm sitting in my office, why?"
Harry sighed in relief before gaining a determined expression, "Then it's time to start Stage Four, Colonel."
Sirius nodded before signaling to someone 'off camera' and turning back to Harry.
"Acknowledged, we will be ready to deploy in 45 minutes."
The mirror went blank, Harry quickly turned to the Auror, "Page Commandant Tonks, and Fleur and Gabrielle to the Armory please."
"Oui, Monsieur!"
Harry walked down to the Armory next to the training room. He stripped off his Dumbledore based robe and his shirt to throw on one of the new Joint Defense Vests. The vests were made of a blend of Dragon-hide and Kevlar, making it the most powerful defensive vest in the world. Studies done at the French Magical Defense Labs showed that it had a five percent chance of stopping an Avada Kedavra. They thought that within a year or so they could get it up to ten percent.
He put his shirt back on and grabbed a PAMAS from the rack of guns near the door. He grabbed a magazine from one of the boxes and slapped it into the gun. Harry also grabbed three spare magazines and put them in his pocket, before throwing on the robe again, and casting a glamour over it to make it look a lot more basic. He then waited for his girls and Tonks to appear. They did, all at once, "Where were all of you?"
Gabrielle smiled, "Just talking, that's all. What's up?"
"'Mr. Riddle has given the appropriate signal.' We're in Stage Four."
The girls nodded and Gabrielle and Fleur stripped down to their bras to put on vests. Tonks always had one on, so she was fine. They then grabbed two Walthers to compliment Harry's and Tonks's PAMASs. Then everyone got dressed again and walked out into the hall.
They glanced down at stacks of notecards for a few moments before Harry nodded twice and turned off his outer Occlumency defenses to let Voldemort get his point of view.
"Girls listen, something bad's happened Voldemort's got Sirius!"
Fleur's turn, "What? How do you know?"
"I saw it, just like those images, in fact that's where he is. He's in the Department of Mysteries, in a room of shelves filled with globes, row 97."
Tonks mused, "Sounds like the Hall of Prophecy."
"We have to go!"
"Go?
"Yes, Gabrielle, Go to the Department of Mysteries so we can rescue him!"
"But, are you sure he's there, Harry, I mean, really, it's not like Voldemort can just waltz in to the Ministry of Magic."
"Yes, I am."
"He could be trying to trick you."
"I know. Tonks, but I have to try. I'm going; it's up to you whether or not you want to go."
Gabrielle and Fleur smiled, "Where you go, we go."
Tonks sighed, "Well, your Dad will kill me if anything happens to you, so I'm going."
Harry raises his shields again and nods twice.
"Good Show everyone. Now, how are we getting there?"
"Tube would be best, it's believable, and it'll take long enough for the strike team to get into position."
"Let's go."
October 31, 1995
5:40 PM
Entrance to Department of Mysteries
Level 9, Ministry of Magic
London, United Kingdom
As Harry led his small group toward the black door that led to the Department of Mysteries, he remembered the plan discussed, just days ago.
Tonks started her report, "Upon the appropriate signal from Mr. Riddle, we will begin deployment as follows. Mr. Potter, the Mrs. Potters and I will proceed along Path Alpha to Objective 1, codenamed 'Cheese,' we believe that the majority or possibly entirety of the Death Eater force will be there. Harry will spring the trap; his objective is to stall by participating in Death Eater grandstanding."
And that was what he was going to do.
Harry, wearing his "Harry Potter, Rescue Mission" badge walked in through the open door into the circular spinning room. This room was a clever bit of misdirection. It didn't actually spin, it was a complicated illusion. The doors never moved. While Intelligence reported he could just simply shout out "Hall of Prophecy" that would possibly tip off the Death Eaters. So, they walked in through the Brain Room, making a brief comment about them before returning to the spinning room, marking the door and spinning it again.
They arrived in the Death Chamber, the site or the next battle. Here, Harry made a show of approaching the veil, looking for Sirius, before Tonks dragged him away, back to the spinning room. The next door they tried was the Locked Room of Love, where he blew out a knife, supposedly a gift from Sirius, trying to get in.
Finally, after deciding that they had made enough tracks to show they had "no idea where they were going" they arrived in the Hall of Prophecy and started running toward Row 97, now they were all on edge, they could feel the Death Eaters' presence. They arrived at Row 97, codenamed 'Cheese.'
"He's right down at the end, you can't see properly from here." They started running toward the other end, "He should be right, about, here. Where is he?"
Tonks stage whispered, "Harry, I don't think he's here."
Fleur was 'looking around' while actually looking for the proper prophecy, "Master, have you seen this?"
Harry looked at the prophecy she was gesturing to: SPT to APWBD, Dark Lord and (?) Harry Potter. He reached out to grab it, before Gabrielle stopped him.
"I don't think you should touch it, Harry."
"Why not, it's got my name on it?" It was time to spring the trap. Harry grabbed it waiting, sensing the silenced and disillusioned movement as a Death Eater came up right behind them.
"Very good, Potter," Lucius Malfoy drawled, "Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."
Harry Potter allowed himself a brief smirk, before turning around to put on a performance that would earn him an Oscar in Hollywood.
AN: Please Review! Thanks to those who have.